Refusing to eat 2012 hay.

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connieconvert

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I have just started to feed small hay bales made in 2012 and my ponies won't touch them.
The bales appear ok with no mould or horrible odour.
I just wondered if any one else has the same problem and could share any tips on making the hay palatable.
I have lots of 2011 hay which the ponies love but don't want to write off the other bales without asking for advice first.
 
I don't think horses are silly, if they won't eat it there may be something wrong with it. I would get it analysed to ensure it's OK before you try and entice them to eat it.
 
connieconvert said:
I have just started to feed small hay bales made in 2012 and my ponies won't touch them.
The bales appear ok with no mould or horrible odour.
I just wondered if any one else has the same problem and could share any tips on making the hay palatable.
I have lots of 2011 hay which the ponies love but don't want to write off the other bales without asking for advice first.
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I had a batch of small bale haylage opened one and my boy who has never refused wouldn't eat it we did try so I phoned where it came from ive used these farmers for 20 odd years they said the weather this summer was really bad and the second cut was very wet they changed all my haylage, gave them to there cows !!
 
Nearly all of our horses on our yard are not eating 2012 hay and our hay was made perfect and smells gorgeous but the horses think different. We also have tried soaking, steaming and feeding dry. But in the end we are just giving them dry and they are now starting to eat it. Also We are now only giving them 2012 hay not 2011 hay, because when they didn't eat 2012 hay we would give them 2011 hay so then they would just wait for the old hay!!!!!
 
Wildhorse25 said:
Nearly all of our horses on our yard are not eating 2012 hay and our hay was made perfect and smells gorgeous but the horses think different. We also have tried soaking, steaming and feeding dry. But in the end we are just giving them dry and they are now starting to eat it. Also We are now only giving them 2012 hay not 2011 hay, because when they didn't eat 2012 hay we would give them 2011 hay so then they would just wait for the old hay!!!!!
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Thanks for your reply Wildhorse. It makes sense now you mention that if they turn their noses up at 2012 hay I replace it with their preferred bales.
I will persevere a little longer and see how it goes.
 
There have been a few threads on this over this winter. My two have been really fussy this year, with haylage that looks perfect to me. People thought that it could be that the ground was so wet it meant that the grass rotted a bit at the bottom, then dried out,, was cut, and left a slightly strange flavour to them.

I agree, they do know whats good for them. We have found leaving it loose on the floor, so they can shake it up and pick through it, means that they eat a lot of it - in a haynet they don't..

Thankfully ours are fatties, so its not a bad thing if it slows them down and makes them forrage a bit!
 
Although our hay was made in about the only dry time, it isn't very good at all. By the time we made hay the grass was very mature and had received lots and lots of rain and it simply didn't "make" very well. My hay is very variable, with good bales and not so good and it was all from the same field. Probably there were some thick clumps of grass that didn't get dried out very well.

Something lots of people are finding unfortunately.
 
Same problem! I posted last year about this. I have a barn full of home grown hay and there are only a few bales that are OK. They look and smell fine but there's a lot of "bottom" in them and she won't touch them! Have, regrettably, resorted to mixing in high fibre haylage which is vaguely successful but still a lot left in her Hay Bar :-(
 
Thanks for all your replies. I value your views and comments.
I am going to put the hay on the ground and let the ponies decide as they are the best judges.
I shall just discard what is left and hope for a good crop this year.
 
Mine are the same with the haylege, and my friends with their hay.

I got one 2011 bale in with the rest and they pretty much inhaled it. Roo then turned his nose up at the rest which are 2012.Mean mummy that I am told him tough, eat it or starve. So he eats it ;) There's nothing wrong with it and the rest eat it happily enough, he just doesn't like the taste as much. Now he's got used to it he munches without complaint.
 
Mine are the same, i had some 2011 hay that i was feeding out in the field, not a scrap would be left, when that ran out and i started on 2012, theye were pooing on it and trashing it into the ground, little monsters, i tired 3 different types of 2012 hay.

I even called the dentist out to my old boy as he was even balling up the hay or haylage and spitting it out. Dentist said teeth all fine, he must be getting fussy, so i have got mean, and instead of a bale out in the field everyday, they now get half, and most of it has gone.
 
My two girls are fussy every year with hay and even haylage this year :( luckily I seem to of found a batch of hay that meets with their approval - got about 10 bales left... Then the search begins again
 
The peculiar weather apparently caused odd problems with stored sugars or something.But worse,far worse,mine were on hay reels,OK with that,then when it turned cold ,really cold,black mare looked like she needed more condition,so the next reel in the feeder was hayledge.Not a good idea,black mare went into an accute attack of laminitus after a few days of it.Hopefully she is on the right road now,but this is a mare of cob type whose ribs were just showing,and yet it caused lammi.Be very aware,hay/hayledge ios not the same every summer,and last years was from a very very unusual season.
My vet says he has seen almost ten other cases the same this winter.
 
Mine have refused two different batches of 2012 hay and local grown haylage. Horsehage has faired only a little better. I am now feeding Happy Hoof as a partial replacer and leaving some hay out. They are starting to eat more, but still only around a section.
 
I fed my yearling last years Haylage and she loved it, then one day she kept leaving her Haynet and her bedding was full of Haylage.....I then found soil it mine and got put off by it, I decided to buy equilage, so now she has half hay mixed with equilage and everything is eaten by the morning....you can also buy the equilage for laminitis too :) x
 
It used to be standard practice to only feed second year hay,and never ever the crop from the last summer.Think I will go back to that tried and tested way after my mare was basically poisoned by last summer`s haylage.she is lucky to be alive ,frankly.
 
All six horses at the yard I'm at have lost a lot of condition. YO says she's feeding them the same as last year. However the field is trashed and this coupled with very poor standard hay, harvested late so not much nutrition, they are all now looking a bit thin. Two are very thin. Some of the hay has been quite mouldy. Really in need of a good dry spring here in the midlands.
 
I've had problems with hay too. My supplier was giving me perfectly nice looking hay that was made in September and my lot weren't keen though they were eventually eating it when there was no choice. However, I recently got some hay from a different supplier that was made in the tiny window of dry weather in June and the horses LOVE it.

So, I think it depends when it was made, the really late hay doesn't seem to be any good.
 
I have found the same problem. I have been tearing my hair out this winter as fussy tb has been losing weight and even greedy cob has been fussy.

I have had to try 3 different farmers and several batches to find stuff they will eat, but with limited success :--(
 
My horses also turned their nose up at 2012 hay! and proceeded to eat their straw beds instead.. I actually have to mix one of the horses haynets with a little straw to get her to eat it (it is very nice straw !) :o other horses will now eat it fine
 
TrasaM said:
Really in need of a good dry spring here in the midlands.
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And now it's heavy rain again and forecast heavy snow tonight :( the ground will never recover i'm sure! the horses are swimming in the fields and we have a huge amount of turnout space per horse. It had finally started to dry up a tiny bit as well
 
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